Didn't Come Easy
by Shining in the Darkness
Summary: A small kiss is shared. And it brings back many memories for Anakin Skywalker. [Cadena does not belong to me. She belongs to katierosefun.]


**I do not own Cadena. She belongs to katierosefun, who wrote the ****_Begin Again _****series. Another note, because I know that some readers might be disturbed by this story-****_Anakin Skywalker and Cadena do not actually like each other in katierosefun's Begin Again stories. They are nothing more than a Master and Padawan duo in her stories. _**

**The pairing Anakin and Cadena is simply something that I've grown rather fond of after reading katierosefun's stories. I don't understand ****_why _****she didn't make it a thing, because I feel like some of it is ****_so implied _****that it's actually rather hard not to like the ship. **

**But I'm the only one who likes it, so...anyways. **

**Read on if you wish, though you have been warned. **

* * *

Anakin Skywalker had been kissed before. He _had _kissed someone, too – in fact, he would think he'd kissed a few more people than he would have liked to know. There was always his former wife, Padmé Amidala, but they (obviously – see term _former_) divorced a few months ago due to being too busy to pay attention to each other. (They were still friends, however, so Anakin supposed that had to count for something.)

There was Ahsoka Tano, though that was only _once_, and it was for a mission. (They had to pretend to be some form of drunken couple one time. _That _was not a fun experience for either of them, especially since Anakin considered Ahsoka to be a younger sister rather than a lover or anything else of the sort.)

There was even a few other faceless, nameless women here and there, but like Ahsoka, they were all for a mission. Anakin supposed he hated that – it wasn't always the most pleasant experience, _especially _if those people actually started to _like _Anakin afterwards.

But here he was, looking down at his new apprentice – Cadena – fixing her light saber and wondering what it would be like to kiss _her. _He knew those thoughts were wrong – especially since Cadena was younger than him – _much _younger than him, actually. Perhaps a bit younger than Ahsoka, too.

But then again, Padmé was…what, six years older than him? Age couldn't always count…

However, there was also the little fact that Anakin had _no idea _how Cadena felt about the no-attachments rule in the Code. She never really shared her opinion on the matter, only shying away to a different topic before she could get her own word in. For all Anakin knew, Cadena might not even be completely aware of the no-attachments rule. (Actually, that probably wasn't possible, but still…)

Tensions have been running high especially after their last few missions together. The streak of awe would always come out of nowhere – Anakin would be deflecting bullets and then suddenly, he would spot his young apprentice ducking through the droids, doing her best to fight them off.

And she always looked…beautiful. A different kind of beautiful each and every time he would look back at her – hair flying, eyes shining, every part of her body working together in complete harmony.

Sometimes, those simple parts of Cadena would kill Anakin a little inside – to know that she could be like this and not even know much about her made him feel shallow and arrogant, which was something that he had tried avoiding these days.

_Force_, and _now _Anakin was staring at the gentle curve of Cadena's lips, which were frequently bit down on as she concentrated on her light saber. They looked soft, to be honest – soft and simple and light. (_He needed to stop thinking about her lips, damn it.) _

And Cadena's hands were small and smooth – perhaps not as smooth as a senator's, but it didn't have any visible callouses or marks on them just yet. Her fingers weren't quite long yet, either – they weren't exactly short and stubby like a child's, but they certainly wasn't of a fully-grown adult.

But that didn't really matter, did it? Anakin just wanted to see what it'd be like to possibly _kiss _her or –

"Done!" Cadena said enthusiastically, lifting up her light saber and snapping Anakin out of his thoughts in the process. She turned to her master, an impish smile twitching at her lips. "Maybe I can beat you with a better light saber this time, Master."

Anakin found enough strength to say, "It's not the light saber that makes you a better fighter, Cadena."

Cadena rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say," she replied and stood up. "But I think the only reason why you were able to beat me all those times was because my light saber was twisted up."

Anakin pressed his lips together into a surrendering smile and watched as Cadena hooked her light saber back to her belt. "Right then," she said, smoothing out her tunic. She looked back up. "What's next?"

"What's next?" Anakin asked, lifting his eyebrows. He took a few steps towards Cadena, who didn't move from her spot. "Well, _yeah_," she said, extending her arms. "I mean, we can't just sit around here all day and…do nothing, right? I'm bored."

Anakin wasn't quite sure what he was doing next – everything suddenly poured out of his mind and he nudged Cadena to the wall. "What's next?" He repeated. This time, Cadena's brow furrowed. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Er…what're you doing?" She asked, her voice lifting a few octaves. She shifted uncomfortably over the wall and went on, "Is there…something you wanted to tell me?"

Anakin blinked. He looked down at Cadena and stared back up at the ceiling, feeling heat crawl up to his face. He quickly dropped his arms from the wall and replied, "No. I mean – _no_, there's nothing that I wanted to tell you. I just…thought that…" His voice drifted as Cadena's eyebrows slowly crawled up to her hairline. "Nothing." He swallowed.

"Um…okay." Cadena said awkwardly and started to slip away from the wall. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned around to look at Anakin. "Are you sure there's nothing going on?"

_No. _

"Yeah, of course I'm sure," Anakin replied, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Cadena nodded slowly and started to walk towards the other end of the room. However, another surge of energy went through Anakin and he took a hold of Cadena's arm.

"What?" Cadena asked, turning around. "I'm serious, Master, you really shouldn't go around—oh!" She gasped as Anakin quickly pulled her in to his chest. He could feel Cadena stilling. Her head slowly turned up to look at Anakin, eyes wide. "What're you –"

The rest of her words were drowned out as Anakin planted his lips over Cadena's. The next moments were all something of a blur. Anakin pressed Cadena to the wall, sometimes turning his head to get a better lock over her lips. Cadena, on the other hand, didn't fight. She slowly lifted her hands to Anakin's shoulders and pushed him back. Needless to say, there wasn't much sound in the room except for perhaps the small, quick breaths of air in between kisses.

It wasn't until Anakin finally pulled away did they seem to regain some control over themselves. Cadena's eyes were beginning to open, a low, shuddery breath drawing out of her lips. "Okay," she said in a small voice, lowering her hands from Anakin's shoulders. She wrapped her arms around herself. "What was _that_?"

Anakin felt his heart sink and he quickly took a few steps back, eyes wide. "I didn't mean to – Cadena, I'm sorry. I was trying to –"

"I know," Cadena interrupted. She brought her hands to her face and murmured, "I know, I know, I know." Anakin could hear her breathing through her hands. "We need to – keep that a secret, yeah?"

Anakin could only nod. He clasped his hands behind himself and tried again, "I didn't want to hurt –"

Cadena looked up suddenly and strode over to Anakin, pointing a finger at his chest. "Listen," she said quietly. "You didn't hurt me. You didn't do…anything _that _bad." She hesitated. "Actually, well, you _kissed _me." An odd, exasperated laugh escaped her lips. "_Force,_ that sounds crazy, doesn't it?"

Anakin managed a small smile. "It does," he agreed.

Cadena giggled again before going on, "But this little crazy thing will only be kept between us. We're not going to make it public – we're not going to talk about it or do it again."

Anakin bobbed his head into another nod. "Got it," he replied faintly.

* * *

**Note: It's been a while since I've ever written any proper fanfiction, so I guess my writing isn't exactly as good as I'd hope. Again, please realize that this is simply a ship that _I _like and would rather not be criticized or made fun of for writing this kind of material. The only person I would actually _allow _some annoyed messages from would probably be katierosefun herself, though she's given me permission to use Cadena as long as I don't claim her. **

**With that said, reviews would be appreciated. However, any flames/hate messages will not be tolerated and therefore deleted. **


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